Steinbeck's Ghost, by Lewis Buzbee

Every so often, a book comes along that is destined to become a classic. Steinbeck’s Ghost, by Lewis Buzbee, is one of those. Geared for younger teen readers, Steinbeck’s Ghost is a fascinating tale for adults, too. The book tells the story of Travis Williams, who loves Steinbeck’s stories and lives in the author’s hometown of Salinas.

When Travis sees Steinbeck himself in the attic window of his old Victorian home, writing at his desk, then encounters other characters from Steinbeck’s stories, he realizes that the author still has one more story to tell and that Steinbeck needs his help to complete it.

Wrapped around the subplot of Travis’s efforts to help save Salinas’s Steinbeck Library, which is threatened by budget cuts, the story expertly weaves reality and fantasy to the point that readers believe all of it is reality.

Buzbee does not write down to his audience. He delves into the intracacies of Steinbeck’s works, educating his readers. If his goal was to turn them, young or old, into Steinbeck fans, he has accomplished that. He makes them want to pour over Steinbeck’s every word, to create a visual memory of each place Steinbeck described, to visit the Steinbeck house, to retrace the author’s life in Salinas, to live in his world.

Buzbee makes readers believe that they, too, might see the author sitting at his desk by the attic window of his home, spot the Watchers on the ridges of the Santa Lucias above Corral de Tierra, look for the town in the Corral that no one wants to admit ever existed, meet Gitano walking through the streets of Salinas. The book could have been edited to delete repeated words, but that doesn’t detract from making it a page turner for readers of any age.